KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — Stern and integrated action would be taken as a solution to address the issues of religious insults and the promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) lifestyle, especially on social media.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Ahmad Marzuk Shaary said the matter was decided at a special meeting of the task force set up to address LGBT-related issues, chaired by him today.

He said the task force would also identify the constraints faced by the authorities in implementing integrated enforcement and propose amendments to the Syariah Criminal Procedure (Federal Territories) Act 1997 (Act 560) and syariah criminal law in all states.

"It is to enable law enforcement agencies to take action against any Muslim who insults Islam and commits other syariah criminal offences using online applications,” he said in a statement today.

Ahmad Marzuk said a comprehensive standard operating procedure would also be formulated to handle complaints about offences related to religious insults and the promotion of the LGBT lifestyle.

Among the agencies involved in the meeting are the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry, Home Ministry, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Royal Malaysia Police.

Ahmad Marzuk said the special meeting was held to discuss on the law enforcement against acts of insulting religion through the promotion of the LGBT lifestyle on social media.

"As we all know, June has been declared as the LGBT Pride Month in which, LGBT movements around the world, including in Malaysia, use it to promote their lifestyle openly either through marches or on social media.

"We found that there are certain quarters who have actively shared and uploaded postings as well as graphics that insult Islam on certain social media platform in their efforts to promote the LGBT lifestyle,” he said. — Bernama